Uprising of the Five Barbarians

The Uprising of the Five Barbarians occurred from 304 to 316 AD when the Wu Hu ("Five Barbarians"), a coalition of barbarians from the non-Chinese Xiongnu, Jie, Qiang, Di, and Xianbei peoples, overthrew the Western Jin dynasty and established their own kingdoms in northern China. The uprising led to the flight of the Jin court to Jiankang, where it became known as the "Eastern Jin", and a mass migration of Han Chinese to southern China as barbarians overran the north.

Background
During the War of the Eight Princes, the feudatory princes of the Sima clan tore China apart in an all-out civil war which led to a massive depopulation of China. As a result, they were forced to look for outside help to help them win in their struggles against each other. The princes decided to turn to the non-Chinese nomadic peoples who lived on the borders of the Western Jin empire, and thousands of barbarians from the "Wu Hu" (the "Five Barbarians" - Xiongnu, Jie, Qiang, Di, and Xianbei) were brought in as auxiliaries during the conflict. The barbarian mercenaries were treated as slaves by their Chinese masters, leading to the large barbarian armies revolting against the Jin in 306.

Uprising
In 306 AD, Sima Yue and his Xianbei allies captured the Chinese capital of Chang'an. Shortly after, however, the nomadic tribes began to revolt and create their own kingdoms, with the Di chief Li Xiong capturing Chengdu and proclaiming the kingdom of Cheng Han. Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu chieftain, proclaimed the kingdom of Han Zhao in the heartland of the Jin empire, and Liu Yuan's son Liu Cong attacked the imperial capital of Luoyang in 309 and 310. In 310, Sima Yue fled Luoyang with 40,000 troops and withdrew to Xiangcheng in Henan, intending to evade capture. After Sima Yue died in 311, the Jin forces in Henan, commanded by Wang Yan, proceeded to Shandong to attack Liu Cong's general Shi Le, but Wang Yan and 100,000 of his soldiers were slain in the ensuing defeat. Wang Yan's defeat alloewd for Liu Cong's forces to enter Luoyang, razing the city and killing 30,000 people, including the Jin crown prince and dozens of high-ranking officials. The main Jin regime in the north was defeated, and the Jin loyalists in northern China were confined to You Province, Liang Province, and Bing Province. However, they were soon cut off from the Jin forces in the south and were overwhelmed, reducing the Jin to the lands south of the Huai River and initiating the Eastern Jin period. The barbarians went on to establish several short-lived kingdoms in the north, ushering in the Sixteen Kingdoms era.

Aftermath
The Eastern Jin became a weak dynasty dominated by regional nobles and governors, but it was to survive until 420 AD. The massive Han Chinese exodus to Fujian and Guangdong led to the Sinification of the regions, which had previously been dominated by barbarian tribes such as the Shanyue. The Wu Hu barbarian tribes, meanwhile, encouraged the Buddhist faith, which was to take root in China over the next few centuries. Northern China would remain divided for another 130 years until Northern Wei united the feuding barbarian kingdoms under one banner, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties period followed from 420 to 589, when the short-lived Sui dynasty finally reunified the whole of China.